Aiken Standard (Newspaper) - September 9, 1998, Aiken, South Carolina AA A I K E N Deputies Reserves supplement forces Pae 1B Swissair Equipment arrives to aid in search Page 2A Vol 132 No 252 Aiken South Carolina Wednesday September 91998 tori McGwire blast breaks record Associated Press ST LOUIS Even before his first swing in spring train ing the questions started Could the record be broken Would he be the one to do it Mark McGwire the man who seemed destined for home run history from the day he was born answered them all Tuesday night Homer No 62 was a low liner to left field far from the monster moonshots hes hit all season At 341 feet it was his shortest homer of the year No matter Because the moment the ball barely cleared the wall the St Louis slugger had won the race to break the most recognizable record in sports a mark that Roger Maris held for 37 years I have been talking about this since January he said I can honestly say I did it Born two years to the day after Maris hit his 61st in 1961 solo home run in the fourth inning off Chicago Cubs pitcher Steve Trachsel capped a chase that began with his grand slam on open ing day Though McGwire and the rest of the baseball world had been expecting the record breaker any day it was still overwhelming McGwire was so excited that he skipped past first base as he rounded the bag and had to return to touch it urged back by coach Dave McKay I sort of missed one big thing to touch first base he said I hope I didnt act foolish but this is history Every Cubs infielder shook hand on his trip home McGwire pointed at the Chicago dugout in tribute and saluted the fans See HISTORIC page 3A Making his mark in history Mark McGwire hit his recordbreaking 62nd home run off Steve Trachsel of the Chicago Cubs to eclipse Roger Maris 37year old record of 61 home runs in 1961 Atbat to HR ratio 727 451 Strikeouts 137 Walks 149 Intentional walks 28 games Date Opponent Apr 14 Arizona at Philadelphia San Francisco Houston Los Angeles Aug 19 at Chicago Sept 1 at Florida Florida Mar 1 Apr May June July Aug Sept 10 16 10 May 23 July 17 No 567 18 19 20 2223 3940 4142 4849 5657 5859 Where they were hit Mark McGwire St Louis Cardinals Longest home run 545 feet off Livan Hernandez at Busch Stadium on May 16 1998 Busch Stadium The pitch McGwire connected on a first pitch in the fourth inning off Chicagos Steve Trachsel at Busch Stadium for his 62nd home run Maris New York Yankees 61 Atbat to HR ratio AB HR 61 v 967 590 Strikeouts 67 Walks 94 Intentional walks 0 games Date Opponent May 30 at Boston June 11 Los Angeles July 2 Washington July 25 Chicago July 25 Chicago Aug 16 Chicago Detroit Maris hit a fastball off Bostons Tracy Stallard into the right field seats in Yankee Stadium in the third inning of the final game of the season with only 23154 fans in attendance No 10 11 1920 2930 3738 3940 4748 5253 Where they were hit Source Elias Sports Bureau De Gasero Dow surge doesnt enthrall Asia Associated Press TOKYO Encouraged by Wall Streets surge the top three stock markets in Asia opened higher today but two of them soon head ed south as concerns about local problems took precedence In fact as encouraging as the 5 percent Dow Jones climb was on Tuesday Asian bourses had already reacted earlier in the week to the cause speculation that America will soon lower interest rates to offset the effect of Asias and Russias economic tur moil The chitchat about US inter est rates began Friday thanks to a speech that day by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Asias markets responded by moving higher with Monday and Tuesday But Wall Street was closed for the Labor Day holiday Monday and didnt have a chance to react to Greenspan until Tuesday when it soared a record 380 points As word of New Yorks rebound reached Asia this morning peo ple seemed happy but uncertain given how much turbulence has wracked the worlds markets late ly I hope it means something said Ahmad watching the local stocks on a monitor outside a bank in Singapore It will be interesting to see what happens today If the local rally continues its a sign that things arent so bad But maybe its a thing he said In Tokyo Masahiko Shimizu 31 an insurance salesman who had just completed a stock trans action at Nomura Securities Co said The Dow surge wont have a direct effect on the Japanese economy It has its own problems and they are mostly political In fact Shimizu said Japans Please see DOW page 3A 25 ct Students top SC average Staff and wire reports While South Carolina students scores held steady this year on the Basic Skills Assessment Pro gram tests those in Aiken County were consistently higher than the state average Most state scores fluctuated by 1 percentage point or less Educa tion Superintendent Barbara Nielsen said Students meeting state standards in reading math science and writing remained high between 75 percent and 85 percent in most grades In Aiken County more than 80 percent of 10th grade students passed the state exit exam The passing rate was 864 percent in reading 804 percent in math and 847 percent in writing This com pared with 815 percent 751 per cent and 838 percent respectively across the state It looks as if some areas weve increased significantly over 1997 scores and other areas weve decreased said Dr Linda Eldridge superintendent of Aiken County public schools after a quick look at the scores after they arrived this morning In other grades which test basic skills in South Carolina Aiken County students fared compara well In eighth grade 791 percent of Aiken County students met the standard for the reading test while 807 percent met the math standard 539 percent made the mark in science and 851 per cent met the passing score in writing At the state level the per cent meeting the eighth grade standards were 684 in reading 650 in math 444 in science and 787 in writing Sixth graders in Aiken County passed the science test at 624 percent and the writing at 718 percent Around the state sixth graders making passing marks were 523 percent in sci ence and 700 percent in writing Third grade results in Aiken County had 879 percent passing reading 873 percent in math and 689 percent in science This com pared to the state average of 844 percent in reading 848 percent in math and 635 percent in science While pleased with the overall results in the county Eldridge said more should be expected These are basic skills were talking about she said We must never be satisfied weve got to aim for 100 percent Board fills post at RSM i Ridge High after the Aiken County Board of Educations i unanimous choice Tuesday evening of William J Ward to fill the slot The how ever drew criticism from sev eral visitors at the meeting claiming that former principal Clarence Jackson was riot given due respect at RSM and chose to retire rather than stay at the post Addressing the board for about five minutes was Ridge Spring resident Leonard Bell Jr representing a group of 2530 people registered on the agenda as RSM Citi zens He said the school had made solid progress during the past two academic years under Jacksons leadership improvements in physi cal facilities and test scores in addition to success in ath Jackson was the victim of a lack of support from the dis administration said Bell who also criticized the media for publicizing the fact that Dr Linda Eldridge dis superintendent had rec Ward to succeed Jackson at He ques whether the boards vote would simply be a rub approval of the Please see BOARD page 3A Ross S Baker Aiken Pauline Norris Counts Aiken Katherine Wiggins Knox North Augusta Obituary notices on page 7B 7B SB 4B 8B Abby 8A Ga 5A Tuesdays winning numbers Cash 3 Midday 908 Cash 3 Evening 153 Cash 4 0166 1012162233 Big Game Big Money Ball 4A 10A 3B 4B 3B I Advisers explore Clintons options Associated Press right terms The idea is to head off impeachment proceedings pres Scrambling sure Republicans to act before the for a way to respond to a possibly fall elections and show contrition damaging Starr report some top advisers want President Clinton to sug gest hes open to accept ing punishment meted out by Congress as long as lawmakers act quickly Under this scenario the president could implicitly acknowledge that a formal censure by Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky and his related lies The strategy likely would run into trouble from Democratic and Republican lawmakers who say impeachment pro cannot be avoid ed once Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr delivers his Lewinsky Congress is warranted under the report to Congress as early as this Related story Page 5A week We dont advocate the Constitution for the political convenience of Clin ton and his supporters and its premature to make any judgment until the independent counsels report has been completed and delivered the Republican Party chairman Jim Nicholson said Impeachment proceedings would last weeks or months almost certainly keeping the mat ter alive beyond the Nov 3 elec tions White House spokesman Mike McCurry said Tuesday the presi dents staff was not discussing its strategies in public Several Clinton advisers all speaking on condition of anonymity said the now strategy is one of several options on the table They insist that Clinton has not made a deci sion about how to respond to the Starr report Still the fact that senior advis ers are discussing the possibility of Clinton accepting punishment Please see ADVISERS page 3A
